Funeral set for man who died after being ‘sucker punched’ during King St. fight

2014-04-30T00:33:50Z2014-05-13T19:32:16Z

Clinton Seymour

(Source: Facebook)

Peter Dudinyak

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) -

A man who died April 28th, two days after allegedly being "sucker punched" in downtown Charleston will be laid to rest Wednesday.

The funeral will be at the J. Henry STUHR in downtown Charleston at 2pm. The burial service will be private.

The father of 27-year-old Clinton Seymour is remembering his son and his family is finding comfort from an outpouring of support just days after the tragic incident.

"I wouldn't have traded a day of it,” said Don Seymour, the father of 27-year-old Clint Seymour.

Mr. Seymour is clinging to the good memories of his son.

"I just hope that every parent is fortunate enough to have the relationship that my wife Mary and I had with him for 27 years. I wish we had it for 67 years. That's not going to happen. But I can't tell you the joy that I feel in the way his 27 years were lived,” said Mr. Seymour.

Joy and love is all the family has left after Clint died from his injuries. He was in coma since arriving at the hospital early Saturday morning.

Witnesses told police Clint and two others were walking down King Street shortly after bars were closing down when one of his friends made a joke, which led to a verbal altercation with another group of guys.

An incident report states Clint fell to the ground after being "sucker punched" and hit his head on the concrete, leaving him with what doctors called multiple skull fractures and brain swelling.

Officials say Clint was removed from life support Monday afternoon with his family and friends by his side.

"What happened to him is an unspeakable tragedy, and they say that losing a child is the worst nightmare that a parent can ever have and it is,” said Mr. Seymour.

Clint's father say he hasn't slept much since his son has been gone.

"I'm trying as hard as I can to come out from the other side of that grieving process and why it happened. Because I can't change why it happened, but start to think about what good can possibly come out of it. Starting with the fact that he's an organ donor,” Mr. Seymour said Tuesday evening.

He says his son is now helping eight people who are in need of an organ.

"From a personal stand point, I'm going to try to be more like him,” said Mr. Seymour.

This past September, Clint moved from his hometown of Pittsburgh to join his parents who recently built a home in the Charleston area. Clint’s dad says his son had a lot going for himself. He bought a house and was also training to be a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch.

A former baseball player at Eastern Kentucky University, Clint touched a lot of lives. His dad says he's gotten over 200 emails of support.

Mr. Seymour says, "Within a span of days, you're seeing the breath of the human experience with the worst conduct imaginable to the most compassionate conduct imaginable."

The family says Clint had a way of connecting with people. They spoke a lot about his personality, saying he was funny, caring and a friend everyone would want to have.

"He had an engaging personality and I wish I had half of it," his father said.

Despite his son's passing, Mr. Seymour says his job as a dad isn't over. He'll be there when ever he's needed, just like old times.

"Whoever's accused, when ever that person's in court, Clint's going to be there because I'm going to be there,” he said.

Mr. Seymour says his son will be laid to rest here in Charleston. They are still working on finalizing plans for the funeral.

Authorities originally charged 26-year-old Peter Dudinyak, who was pointed out by witnesses as throwing the punch, with first degree assault and battery and simple assault. On May 12,the felony charge against Dudinyak was dropped, according to his attorney, after police reviewed surveillance footage and additional information provided by witnesses.

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